Charitable groups gear up for fair

The Littleton-Lake Gaston Festival began 23 years ago as an idea to help drum up some customers for Littleton retailers by attracting the crowds with vendors, foods, entertainment and other activities.

It was even named Downtown Turnaround, and by all accounts it worked. Each year the crowds have grown, more businesses have opened in Littleton, and many of their owners say the festival is one of their biggest days of the year.

It’s not just local businesses that benefit, though.

Several area non-profit and not-for-profit agencies are taking advantage of the fact that thousands of people will be filtering into Littleton Aug. 31-Sept 1.

The Littleton Women’s Club figured out long ago the festival offered a prime opportunity to educate people about what they do, and to raise money for the projects the Club takes on.

The club sponsors a bake sale and what it calls the “Sidewalk Café” – a collection of chairs and tables where folks buying baked goods can have a place to relax while they eat and drink. 

“We’ve done the bake sale for several years,” said club member Judith Forrest. Last  year they added the tables and chairs, next to their bake sale location outside of BB&T. “It was very successful last year, so we intend to carry on with it.”

The club works with other agencies in town, most notably the Lions Club, for a number of projects.

“We’ve always done projects with them, such as the beautification of downtown, and the restoration of Person’s Ordinary.” The club, she said, also helps support the John 3:16 Center as well as Hannah’s House in Roanoke Rapids.

“Most of the things we do, the money we raise, stays local,” she said. ‘All of our initiatives are local, although we do have an international committee. Last year we sent clothes to Iraq, but those where clothes. Our money stays local.”

The bake sale has grown so popular, she said, that it has become the second largest fundraising event for the club.

“Our biggest one probably is the luncheon we have in the fall, harvest luncheon,” she said. “This is second, and it’s quite important for us.”

One of the agencies that benefits from the Ladies Club support, the John 3:16 Center, is also hoping to benefit from expected crowd on the second day of the festival.

Juli Jenkins, the center’s director, said she will be at one of the vendor booths selling donate Bible covers, as well as raffle tickets for a quilt.

“The children made the quilt during their quilting class,” she said of the project, done in conjunction with the Piece Makers Quilting Guild. “We’ll be selling raffle tickets for the quilt at the festival (as well as other times), and we’ll draw for the winner at our annual fundraiser banquet in November.”

In addition, starting at 8:30 that day, the center will hold a yard sale on its grounds, just off of Main Street. “We’ll start that early so everyone can hit us on their way into town,” she said.

The money raised from the yard sale will be used to help pay for a 900-square foot addition being built at the Center.

“We hope to have the addition finished by the time school starts,” she said. “We’re putting in the addition so we can run simultaneous programs, like the GED and the after school program, or in the summer we can run summer camp and the GED program together.”

She said the work is being done by volunteer labor, but the center hopes to raise enough money to pay for the rest of the materials needed.

She said the folks at the Center started thinking of holding the yard sale back in July, and specifically targeted the festival weekend because of the expected crowd.

“Hopefully, this will become an annual event,” she said.

Another local agency that holds its own late summer festival --– Lakeland Cultural Arts Center -– is moving its annual fun day to coincide with the Littleton Festival.

“We’re kind of extending the festival down to Lakeland that night” said Bob Haltenhoff, the board of directors chairman for Lakeland. “I think the festival ends about 4 o’clock and we’re going to take it from 4 o’clock on. We’re going to have games, a yard sale, food. We’ll probably have a few people on the stage during the day, we always have had some performers go out there and sing and perform,” he said. “We’re offering an extension of the festival to people who still want to hang around and still want to do things in town.”
The Lakeland Fun Day will also include rides and games set up by Party Town USA, of Roanoke Rapids, and the evening will be capped off with an improvisational comedy show modeled after the television show “Whose Line is it Anyway.”

Quinton Qualls, a member of the Lions Club, which organizes the festival each year, said he believes the nonprofits are making a wise move to piggyback with the festival efforts. Especially this year, because he believes there will be more people than ever in town.

“We have more vendors this year,” he said. “We’ve put extra effort on contacting more of the crafters and food vendors. It looks like this year there’s going to be a real, real, good line-up. That brings more people to the festival.”

He said Lakeland’s decision to move its fun day to the festival weekend could be a good move for both activities. He said Lakeland’s event always brings folks to Littleton, as does the festival, and now their respective crowds might spend some time at both activities.

“The more activity you have, the better it is, and I think people will enjoy it more,” he said.

 It will help us during the festival, and for festivals coming up in the future.